BP shares soar as spill spreads

This absolutely disgusts me. If anything, the US president should shutdown all BP PLC's assets. They don't deserve to continue operating as a petroleum company.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Drilling of a relief well seen as the most promising way to plug the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a week ahead of schedule, the U.S. official overseeing the spill response said on Tuesday.

But crews were still aiming to reach BP's blown-out well only in mid-August, Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said on Tuesday, 78 days after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 people and burst an oil well, now spewing up to 60,000 barrels of crude into the Gulf each day.

BP's shares rose nearly 9 percent in New York after the company said it could cover the costs of the spill without selling new shares, despite reports it was talking to government-owned funds in the Middle East about buying a stake to ward off takeover attempts.

The oil company's share boost - its London shares also rose, partly supported by a brokerage upgrade -- came even as oil from the slick spread to Texas, the last U.S. Gulf state whose shores had been untainted by the environmental disaster. Link Removed